'la quercia' on Serious Eats

As this great nation prepares to celebrate its own birthday, let us pause to consider one of the finest products on our fair soil: ham. American ham no longer hides in the long shadow cast by Spanish jamón and Italian prosciutto—no, homegrown producers like Iowa's La Quercia have proven that we, too, can make great artisanal ham. La Quercia's Ham Independence holiday celebrates ham eater's freedom from the tyranny of foreign pork powers, and honors the ham makes who have a right and duty to expose new, real, local sources of ham deliciousness, made from the exceptional wholesomeness and bounty of America. Ham-eaters, unite! And fill your bellies, of course, with American cured pork, specifically one pound each of... More

This year as part of the Serious Eats Holiday Giveaways we're giving away La Quercia's Pork Belly Heaven Package, which includes a piece of their rich Pancetta Americana and a piece of Tamworth bacon, an exceptionally sweet bacon but made without any sugar or nitrites. Enter here to win this porktastic package! More

It's finally time to reveal the winners of our limerick contest in honor of La Quercia's Ham Independence Day. Thank you to everyone who entered a limerick; it was really a tough call (really). The three winners have been contacted and will be receiving plenty of piggy prize in the mail. Now, ahem, time to read the winning limericks! More

"Too long have Americans toiled under the hoof of foreign ham powers! No longer dependent on other nations for artisan cured ham, America is finally ready to assume its rightful place." And so, La Quercia has declared it Ham Independence Week between June 28 and July 4. To celebrate, eat ham and enter to win this special La Quercia brunch meats package (speck, bacon, and lardo). Life, liberty, and the proscuitto of happiness! More

Does it bug anyone else that fancypants "artisanal" bacon is always so darn thick-sliced, meaty, and chewy? What if I really like the crisp, melt-in-your-mouth texture of thin-sliced supermarket bacon, but find the flavor rather lacking. What options do I have? Pretty much none. Until now. La Quercia, the producers of fantastic American-made prosciutto have recently introduced Tamworth Country Cured Bacon, a naturally cured, nitrate and nitrite-free bacon made from the belly of heritage-breed Tamworth hogs—a breed known as "the bacon pig." More

Every day through January 3 we're giving away a crazy good food item on Serious Eats. Try your luck, and if you win, you'll be eating some seriously delicious food come the new year. This year we have invited someone new to the Serious Eats Holiday Giveaway party: Herb and Kathy Eckhouse, the co-founders of La Quercia, the Iowans who introduced world-class prosciutto-making to this country. If you've never tasted any of La Quercia's truly amazing pork products, I hereby declare you seriously delicious pork-deprived. The Eckhouses' transcendent prosciutto may actually be better than the highest quality prosciutto de Palma, and I know that claim is truly a mouthful. If you want to win one of La Quercia's Cold Weather... More

Every day through January 3 we're giving away a crazy good food item on Serious Eats. Try your luck, and if you win, you'll be eating some seriously delicious food come the new year. This year we have invited someone new to the Serious Eats Holiday Giveaway party: Herb and Kathy Eckhouse, the co-founders of La Quercia, the Iowans who introduced world-class prosciutto-making to this country. If you've never tasted any of La Quercia's truly amazing pork products, I hereby declare you seriously delicious pork-deprived. The Eckhouses' transcendent prosciutto may actually be better than the highest quality prosciutto de Palma, and I know that claim is truly a mouthful. If you want to win one of La Quercia's Cold Weather... More

Every day through January 3 we're giving away a crazy good food item on Serious Eats. Try your luck, and if you win, you'll be eating some seriously delicious food come the new year. This year we have invited someone new to the Serious Eats Holiday Giveaway party: Herb and Kathy Eckhouse, the co-founders of La Quercia, the Iowans who introduced world-class prosciutto-making to this country. If you've never tasted any of La Quercia's truly amazing pork products, I hereby declare you seriously delicious pork-deprived. The Eckhouses' transcendent prosciutto may actually be better than the highest quality prosciutto de Palma, and I know that claim is truly a mouthful. If you want to win one of La Quercia's Cold Weather... More

Every day through January 3 we're giving away a crazy good food item on Serious Eats. Try your luck, and if you win, you'll be eating some seriously delicious food come the new year. This year we have invited someone new to the Serious Eats Holiday Giveaway party: Herb and Kathy Eckhouse, the co-founders of La Quercia, the Iowans who introduced world-class prosciutto-making to this country. If you've never tasted any of La Quercia's truly amazing pork products, I hereby declare you seriously delicious pork-deprived. The Eckhouses' transcendent prosciutto may actually be better than the highest quality prosciutto de Palma, and I know that claim is truly a mouthful. If you want to win one of La Quercia's Cold Weather... More

Every day through January 3 we're giving away a crazy good food item on Serious Eats. Try your luck, and if you win, you'll be eating some seriously delicious food come the new year. This year we have invited someone new to the Serious Eats Holiday Giveaway party: Herb and Kathy Eckhouse, the co-founders of La Quercia, the Iowans who introduced world-class prosciutto-making to this country. If you've never tasted any of La Quercia's truly amazing pork products, I hereby declare you seriously delicious pork-deprived. The Eckhouses' transcendent prosciutto may actually be better than the highest quality prosciutto de Palma, and I know that claim is truly a mouthful. If you want to win one of La Quercia's Cold Weather... More

"There are a number of seriously delicious artisanal hams being made all over this pig-happy country of ours." That is the porcine question of the day. It all started with Italian prosciutto di Parma, progressed to Serrano ham from Spain, and then of course moved to the ne plus ultra of European ham, the black-footed (patenegra in Spanish), called Jamon Iberico. But now American artisanal ham makers are getting in on the act. Herb and Kathy Eckhouse started making extraordinary La Quercia prosciutto in Des Moines, Iowa. How extraordinary? Italian chefs in America who worship at the feet of Parma ham like Mario Batali started taking notice. Now third generation curemaster Sam Edwards working with Heritage Foods USA and Newman... More

Sky Full of Bacon's Michael Gebert posted this video of his visit to La Quercia in late May, but we haven't blogged it yet, and like all his videos, it's definitely worth watching. Says Gebert: Iowa fills the supermarkets with generic produce and meat... but a few people are trying to show that it can be capable of world-class cuisine, too. That's the mission of La Quercia, whose prosciutto made in a suburb of Des Moines has been raved about by top chefs and food writers. The video, after the jump.... More